The Korea Times has word that the prospects for releasing Diablo III in South Korea are still up in the air, as the ratings board there struggles with the implications of the real-money auction house in Blizzard's upcoming action/RPG sequel (thanks IncGamers). Word is this may throw a monkey wrench into the game's planned simultaneous global release:

Though a ruling on the third and latest in the series of global bestseller Diablo was rumored to be due today, the board spokesman said Tuesday there were no signs suggesting a definitive answer.

“Committee members are conflicted about what to do with Diablo 3,” he said, “because of (its American developer) Blizzard’s information on the game’s ‘auction house’ feature.”

The virtual auction allows users to buy and sell items won during the game, which for many, including the board, resembles gambling. The controversial cashing-out feature, which would convert play money into real currency, was excluded in the most recent resubmission on Dec. 22 but continues to confound the process.

The next meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, but the spokesman cautioned fans against optimism, saying instead that reviews take place every Wednesday and Friday.

“As it is described in the (re)submission, committee members are still reluctant.”

Blizzard has dug a grave for itself by publicly committing to a simultaneous global, region-free launch for the first time in company history. Because every country will receive identical software, the Korean board’s decision is keeping the global game giant in chains.

“In principle, we are always committed to a global release,” said spokeswoman for Blizzard.

Illumin wrote on Jan 5, 2012, 00:03:How is Bob paying 2.00 for a battle axe gambling? How is Bob selling a battle axe for 2.00 gambling?. Lets rephrase that... How is bob buying a car online gambling? How is Bob selling his car online gambling?

Did a random monster RANDOMLY drop Bob's car in a virtual game? See where Im going with this?

How is Bob paying 2.00 for a battle axe gambling? How is Bob selling a battle axe for 2.00 gambling?. Lets rephrase that... How is bob buying a car online gambling? How is Bob selling his car online gambling?

Letting people make real money on the game is a big no no. It is gambling at that point. Blizzard should not release that version of the auction house to anyone. Cannot believe they even considered it.

zip xavier wrote on Jan 4, 2012, 19:01:As for this nonsense, who cares? Do any of you actually live in Korea?

Obviously you care enough to make a comment. Otherwise you'd pass the story and simply make none. Besides, some of us either have friends or family who live there. And as such this does have some small impact on us.

--"For every human problem, there is a neat, simple solution; and it is always wrong." --H.L. Mencken

The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.That is easy.All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.It works the same way in any country.

Maybe they're afraid of the infamous Korean kick trick from Diablo 2. Anyone remember that? You typed a ton of periods with spaces, and within a minute all players with Korean fonts timed out. Quite the interesting bug. As for this nonsense, who cares? Do any of you actually live in Korea?

The Choice Is YoursUse of either the real-money or gold-based auction house is completely optional -- that decision can be made on a per-item basis, and both versions of the auction house are functionally the same. In addition, players have the option to simply sell the items they obtain to in-game vendors for gold. They can also trade items to other players through a direct character-to-character trading system in the game in exchange for gold, other items, or just an overwhelming sense of goodwill.

It's not technically 'real money AH'. You buy a bundle of $B with real money, you can then spend those B's on items in the RMAH and of course sell items for B's. But as of right now you cannot convert B's back into actual money for any kind of gain. Your just spending actual money to get items in game. It's essentially a way to get micro-transactions into a non-MMOG.

In the end it's partly a way to stop the third party sellers and partly just one more way for A/B to make more money off their players. But in the end it won't stop those people. There will still be a big market for that, especially for those who don't buy into the whole Blizzard Dollars scheme.

MoreLuckThanSkill wrote on Jan 4, 2012, 10:51:Can't... let it slide...

defiantly != definitely.

Hah!

The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.That is easy.All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.It works the same way in any country.

What's actually happening here: South Korea and China were pretty much the entire market for rare items back in Diablo II when it had to be done illegitimately. They don't want the competition. "Every country will receive identical software" means if Korea gets Blizzard to fold on the real money system, they get to keep their near monopoly, at the expense of players in the rest of the world who don't want to deal with their shady bullshit but also don't want to wait seven years for the last piece of the awesome set they're collecting.

Key Koreans, do like I do, you see, just because there is a feature in the game, it doesn't necessarily mean you are forced to use it! You have freedom of choice Korea! When was the last time you exercised a right for freedom of choice?! NOW IS YOUR CHANCE! If you delay this game, I swear we will turn all pre-order empty Diablo 3 boxes into a SEA OF FIRE! Besides, your government can just restrict Paypal for Blizzard / Diablo related transactions, it's really that simple!

On the one hand, it's nice to see Kotick's greed starting to really affect Blizzard in a noticeable way, WoW nonsense aside. Hopefully South Korea never relents, and Blizzard just releases the game with no RMAH in the South Korean version.

On the other hand, a real shame this game is going to be delayed for months because Activision/Blizzard won't release a game without exploiting the shit out of it as much as possible. The beta is pretty fun, even without runes.

Defiantly, gambling and blizzard is going to take some real heat for it once the authorities figure it out. What's the gambling tax now 50%?

The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.That is easy.All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.It works the same way in any country.